Category Archives: News

Dr Bowdish speaks on Defy Dementia™ Episode 35: A Shot at Prevention? The Shingles Vaccine & Dementia Risk

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Listen to the epidsode here.

Could a routine vaccine help protect your brain? In this episode, we explore emerging research on the association between shingles vaccination and reduced dementia risk. Ron Swan shares his perspective as a community advocate focused on aging and accessibility, while Dr. Dawn Bowdish (Professor, McMaster University) breaks down what the science says, and what it doesn’t, about how vaccines may influence brain health. Together, they unpack what shingles is and what “promising but early” research about shingles vaccination could mean for reducing dementia risk.

Tune in at defydementia.org, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Web resources

Link between shingles vaccine and slowed dementia is ‘promising’ says expert – from Harvard School of Public Health




For those living with dementia, new study suggests shingles vaccine could slow the disease – from Standford Medicine




‘Strong evidence’ of lowered dementia risk: the benefits of shingles vaccination – from The Guardian





Can a routine vaccine prevent dementia? – from Harvard Health Publishing, Harvard Medical School





Is dementia a vaccine preventable condition? – from Bowdish Lab, Macrophage Biology at McMaster University





Guests:

Ron Swan
Ron Swan is a retired business development professional and entrepreneur with a strong focus on accessibility and aging-in-place. He founded Home Safe Living, a company that provided independent living and accessibility solutions across the Maritime region before selling the business to Lawton’s Drugs, a Sobeys company.





A passionate advocate for older adults, Ron continues to contribute through leadership roles, including Chair of the Board of CARP Nova Scotia and past Chair of the Seniors’ Advisory Council of Nova Scotia. He is frequently called upon to speak on aging, accessibility and community well-being.





Dr. Dawn Bowdish
Dr. Bowdish is a Professor at McMaster University and Executive Director of the Firestone Institute of Respiratory Health. Her research focuses on how aging affects the immune system, particularly how inflammation alters immune cell function and increases susceptibility to infections.Her work also examines how the aging immune system interacts with the microbiome and how these processes influence healthy and unhealthy aging. Dr. Bowdish leads the Preclinical Studies in Aging Laboratory and serves on the Board of Directors of the Lung Health Foundation, where she advocates for improved lung health and research funding for older adults.


Dr. Dawn Bowdish takes on a new leadership role with the Lung Health Foundation.

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This week Dr Bowdish had the honour and privilege of becoming the next Vice-Chair of the Lung Health Foundation‘s Board of Directors. The Lung Health Foundation is Canada’s largest non-profit working to improve the lives of people living with lung conditions. Dr. Bowdish has been a Board member since 2015 where she has helped support the Lung Health Foundation’s advocacy, research, and education. She is looking forward to continuing this work and getting even more involved with this excellent organization. Lung Health starts now!

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7476027081840017408/

Dr. Bowdish discusses measles elimination on TVO’s ‘The Rundown’

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In 1998, Canada celebrated a huge milestone. We became one of the first countries in the world to eliminate measles. Twenty-seven years later, things are dramatically different. That’s because one year ago in New Brunswick, measles made a reappearance. What started as one case quickly spread across the country. And has continued to spread for a full year. Pay attention to that one-year mark, because it’s important. According to public health, if the chain of transmission can’t be broken in a year, it means a country can no longer call itself measles-free. Canada’s status will officially be determined at a meeting next month. We have had outbreaks since 1998, but we’ve always been able to break the chain of transmission. But not this time. Spread has been slowing. But it’s still making headlines. Like possible exposures this month in Ottawa. And Alberta recently reported its first measles death since the outbreak began. So—how did we get here? And what would it take to make measles a disease of the past. Again?

Dr. Bowdish is a panelist at the National Vaccine Summit on Adult Vaccination.

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Over the past 50 years, immunizations have saved more lives in Canada than any other health intervention. With the help of a doctor, an immunologist, a pharmacist and a patient advocate, Zoomer Radio’s Liz West leads this discussion about vaccines – what’s available, where and why we need them.
National Vaccine Summit
‣ Recommended Vaccines & How To Get Them
‣ Navigating Provincial Health Systems
‣ The Role Your Pharmacist Can Play
‣ Emerging Science
‣ Fighting Disinformation & Vaccine Fatigue

Publication: “Rationalizing recommendations for influenza and COVID-19 vaccines”

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Rationalizing recommendations for influenza and COVID-19 vaccines
Jessica A. Breznik, Matthew S. Miller, Dawn M.E. Bowdish
Article 127775

Supplementary Tables and references

Bluesky Explainer here.

I’m excited to share our review “Rationalizing recommendations for influenza and COVID-19 vaccines”, which we feel makes a strong case for universal influenza and COVID-19 vaccination policies. With almost 500 references & 8 supplementary tables it’s a beast so let me break it down for you….1/n

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264410X25010722#ec0005

We started this >a year ago after conversations with immunologists, policy-makers, and the general public. We felt there were misunderstandings about how well COVID-19 vaccines work. We argue that they work as well or better than influenza vaccines so vaccination policies should be similar. 2/n

Like influenza, everyone but newborns has been exposed to COVID-19 through either vaccination or infection so we only reviewed studies in the post-Omicron/post-vaccine era. There is no doubt that the burden of disease has changed in the Omicron/vaccine era, but does that mean COVID is over? 3/n

Comparable data is hard to find, but when we looked at 2022/23 & 2023/24 data we see that deaths are still higher for COVID than influenza BUT looking at % hides the fact that COVID-19 is more contagious and in 23/24 there were almost 3x as many COVID hospitalizations than influenza. 4/n

There’s a common belief that COVID-19 vaccines don’t provide very good protection against symptomatic infection -is this true? These data are very, very hard to compile because the pace of variant replacement and vaccine changes has been dizzying 5/n

Before we get to the data – I just want to give a huge shoutout to @belongia.bsky.social for leading so many high quality studies on influenza effectiveness – look how easy to compare year-to-year. 6/n

Now look at how complicated it is to compare COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness. In influenza studies it is often possible to assess which strain a person was infected with so you can assess vaccine effectiveness by strain. COVID-19 vaccines are almost never matched with the circulating variants.. 7/n

…but despite that disadvantage, levels of protection from symptomatic infection and severe disease are similar between COVID & influenza vaccines. Note that protection against symptomatic infection is VERY hard to estimate because people who don’t get sick don’t get tested. 8/n

There has been some frustration that COVID-19 vaccines don’t last longer but neither does protection from either infection or vaccination for other viruses. When we compare protection < 3 months and > 3 months, COVID-19 vaccines look pretty good, esp considering rapid variant change 9/n

We also make a case to increase to increase the range of vulnerable populations. Canada has been a leader in including congregate living and equity-deserving groups in priority populations (#elbowsup !) but people living with lung and heart issues should be included 10/n.

Vaccine programs are decided by more than efficacy and efficacy – here’s a summary of what the National Advisory Council on Immunization (Canada) includes. Our review doesn’t address the programmatic, cost, and social considerations, which are also important. 11/n

There are still a lot of unknowns, but we feel strongly that universal & free COVID-19 and influenza vaccines would be a good investment in health, health systems, and attendance at work and school. Thank you to the brilliantly detail oriented Dr.@jabreznik.bsky.social and infl Dr Matt Miller Fin!